Brave Beckett Wyatt succumbs to rare cancer

MIDLOTHIAN, Va. -- Beckett Wyatt, a Midlothian boy who waged a nine-month battle with a rare and aggressive form of cancer, died Sunday.

He was nine years old.

"He is free from pain and is once again free from the disease that would ultimately cut his life tragically short on Earth," Beckett's mother Kimmy Wyatt posted on Facebook Sunday. "He fought hard and along the way, never gave up hope and showed all of us what courage, bravery and a positive spirit is. He touched the lives of those around him and because of this he'll never be forgotten."

"I know that my boy will, very soon, be free of that demon disease that is taking away his body and he will be dancing up a storm," Beckett's father Roger said shortly before his son's passing. "I hope that he gets a million pugs to lick his face and make him smile when he gets there [to Heaven]."

As Beckett spent the last months of his life in and out of the hospital getting treatment for his Stage 4 Ewing's Sarcoma, the community rallied around his cancer fight.

Beckett's family said they were overwhelmed by the outpouring of support they have received since their son's diagnosis.

"This is a terrible experience. Nobody ever wants to go through something like this alone," Kimmy Wyatt said. "We weren't even [living] in the area that long when he was diagnosed. There are already people who feel like family in such a short time... everybody has made things so much easier and walked with us through this."

Shortly after his diagnosis last June, a group of Virginia State Police stopped by the hospital to swear Beckett in as junior trooper and pledged to stand by him through treatments.